Abstract
Herpes B virus (or Herpesvirus simiae or Macacine herpesvirus 1) is endemic in many populations of macaques, both in the wild and in captivity. The virus elicits only mild clinical symptoms (if any) in monkeys, but can be transmitted by various routes, most commonly via bites, to humans where it causes viral encephalitis with a high mortality rate. Hence, herpes B constitutes a considerable occupational hazard for animal caretakers, veterinarians and laboratory personnel. Efforts are therefore being made to reduce the risk of zoonotic infection and to improve prognosis after accidental exposure. Among the measures envisaged are serological surveillance of monkey colonies and specific diagnosis of herpes B zoonosis against a background of antibodies recognizing the closely related human herpes simplex virus (HSV). 422 pentadecapeptides covering, in an overlapping fashion, the entire amino acid sequences of herpes B proteins gB and gD were synthesized and immobilized on glass slides. Antibodies present in monkey sera that bind to subsets of the peptide collection were detected by microserological techniques. With 42 different rhesus macaque sera, 114 individual responses to 18 different antibody target regions (ATRs) were recorded, 17 of which had not been described earlier. This finding may pave the way for a peptide-based, herpes B specific serological diagnostic test.
Highlights
Herpes B was first described as a human case of acute ascending myelitis with lethal outcome, following a monkey bite; a filterable transmitting agent (‘‘B virus’’, later named herpes B virus) could be recovered post mortem from various tissues of the victim [1]
The genomes of herpes B and human herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) are made up to a great extent by homologous genes in the same order and orientation [4]. This similarity at the level of genome organization is reflected by an average of approximately 62% identity of amino acid residues across all homologous proteins herpes B shares with both HSV-1 and HSV-2 [2]
Only one epitope had been mapped to a defined site within any antigen of herpes B [8]
Summary
Herpes B was first described as a human case of acute ascending myelitis with lethal outcome, following a monkey bite; a filterable transmitting agent (‘‘B virus’’, later named herpes B virus) could be recovered post mortem from various tissues of the victim [1]. The enveloped particle harbors a linear double-stranded DNA genome of approximately 157 kb [2,3,4]. The genomes of herpes B and human herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) are made up to a great extent by homologous genes in the same order and orientation [4]. This similarity at the level of genome organization is reflected by an average of approximately 62% identity of amino acid residues across all homologous proteins herpes B shares with both HSV-1 and HSV-2 [2]. The viral envelope contains twelve glycoproteins, among them four with proven high immunogenicity: gB, gC, gD and mgG [4,5]
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